Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Afghanistan: Earthquakes

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of the provision of £2.5 million of aid to people in Afghanistan affected by the earthquake in that country in June.

Graham Stuart: The UK responded quickly to the earthquake that struck Afghanistan on 22 June, disbursing £2.5 million in full to the Norwegian Refugee Council and the Red Cross to provide life-saving shelter, medication, water and sanitation assistance to affected communities. The delivery of life-saving assistance through this funding is contributing to a collective response which has reached 138,000 people to date.

Department of Health and Social Care

North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Dehenna Davison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the independent review into the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) to be completed; if he will publish the report of that review; and what steps he plans to take to help ensure that the standard of service provided by NEAS improves as quickly as possible.

James Morris: NHS England is establishing governance arrangements for an independent review to formally commence as soon as is practicable. The families and staff affected will have an opportunity to contribute to the review’s Terms of Reference in due course. Once the review is completed, its report will be published independently of the National Health Service. Local commissioners and the NHS will support the implementation of any recommendations to improve the culture within and the quality of service provided by the North East Ambulance Service as soon as possible. Further details will be available shortly.NHS England advises that the North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust has measures in place to improve the standards of service it provides. An investment of £38 million has been agreed for 2022/23 to improve clinical care, recover ambulance response times, increase the operational and Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) workforce and the establishment of an additional EOC in the south of the Trust’s area.

Radioligand Therapy

Dr James Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS England is taking to ensure standardised approaches to developing radioligand therapy services across the country.

James Morris: NHS England is appointing a new National Specialty Advisor for Nuclear Medicine to ensure the opportunities for radioligand therapies approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence are realised.

General Practitioners: West Midlands

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Government policies to tackle disparity in access to GP appointments in (a) Birmingham and (b) the West Midlands compared to the national average.

James Morris: No specific assessment has been made. However, in the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System (ICS) area, there were 28,668 general practice appointments on average per working day in May 2022, excluding COVID-19 vaccinations. This is an increase of 7.9% from May 2021, compared to the national increase of 5.8% in the same period.The proportion of face-to-face appointments in the Birmingham and Solihull ICS area was 74% in May 2022, excluding COVID-19 vaccinations. This compares to 45% in May 2021 and 64.1% nationally.Birmingham and Solihull ICS, Coventry and Warwickshire ICS, Herefordshire and Worcestershire and the Black Country ICS are working with practices locally to improve patient access. This includes measures such as procuring cloud-based telephony solutions, participating in the Accelerate Access Improvement Programme, communications campaigns to explain the general practice services available and developing access hubs.

Surgical Mesh Implants

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on its decision to remove the link from its website to the report it commissioned by York University Health Economics Consortium which reviewed the available literature on complication rates for mesh implants.

James Morris: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) archives information published on its website to ensure that the most recent information is displayed. When archiving information, the MHRA considers whether the information or updated information is available via other sources.A summary of the report produced by York University Health Economics Consortium in 2012 is available within the ‘Summary of the evidence on benefits and risks of vaginal mesh implants’, which is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vaginal-mesh-implants-summary-of-benefits-and-risksThe MHRA continues to keep all information relating to the safety of mesh implants under review.

Cancer: Health Services

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients in England with suspected cancer have waited 52 weeks or more for NHS care in the most recent month for which data is available.

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients in England with suspected cancer have waited 90 days or more for NHS care in the most recent month for which data is available.

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the longest period a patient in England with suspected cancer has waited for NHS care in the most recent month for which data is available.

James Morris: This information is not collected in the format requested.

NHS: Locums and Temporary Employment

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on locum and agency staff used by the NHS (a) at a national level, (b) at a Trust level and (c) at York Teaching hospital.

Maria Caulfield: NHS England collects agency data on shift numbers, including off-framework shifts which override the agency rules, and data on expenditure for agency staff. While this data is collected at trust level, integrated care system and national level it is not currently validated.

Childbirth: Ethnic Groups

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the long-term impact of traumatic birth experiences on Black and Black mixed women.

Maria Caulfield: No specific assessment has been made. However, in order to reduce the risk of traumatic birth experiences for women, there are projects underway to increase the personalisation of maternity care and provide standardised information to support informed decision making. In 2021, NHS England published ‘A good practice guide to support implementation of trauma-informed care in the perinatal period’ which is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/BBS-TIC-V8.pdf

HIV Infection: Screening

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the HIV Action Plan for England - 2022 to 2025, published in December 2021, if he will publish his planned timetable for the expansion of opt-out HIV testing, including details of the locations testing will be extended to.

Maggie Throup: NHS England are investing £20 million over the next three years to expand opt-out testing in emergency departments in 21 local authority areas with the highest prevalence of HIV, in line with guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. All sites are preparing to establish opt-out testing during 2022/23, with sites in London due to be fully operational by September 2022. The following table shows a list of these local authority areas. LambethSouthwarkCity of LondonKensington and ChelseaCamdenWestminsterLewishamBrighton and HoveHammersmith and FulhamHackneyIslingtonHaringeyGreenwichManchesterNewhamCroydonTower HamletsBarking and DagenhamWandsworthSalfordBlackpool

Health: Females

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a list of the meetings his Department has had with stakeholders in women’s health since January 2019.

Maria Caulfield: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Horticulture and Poultry: Seasonal Workers

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the evidential basis is for his Department's decision that the appropriate number of operators for the seasonal worker visa route is five horticultural operators and two poultry operators.

Victoria Prentis: The appropriate number of operators is a collaborative decision made by Defra and the Home Office. It is based on operator capacity to source seasonal workers and uphold sponsorship responsibilities, ensuring the visa route is well managed and worker welfare and exploitation risks are mitigated. In 2019 and 2020, the Seasonal Workers visa route had two operators for 2,500 visas and 10,000 visas respectively. In 2021 and 2022 there were four operators for 30,000 visas and, to accommodate for the release of the extra 10,000 visas (8,000 visas going to the horticulture sector and 2,000 to the poultry sector) several additional operators will be required.

Fishing Catches: White Fish

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to ICES Advice 2022 on UK cod stocks, if he will establish catch limits for cod at sustainable levels.

Victoria Prentis: The UK advocates an approach towards setting total allowable catches (TACs) for cod stocks and other species that is founded on the best available scientific advice, which seeks to maintain or rebuild sustainable fish stocks and fisheries in the long term. For many whitefish stocks, such as cod, a further key consideration when setting the TAC is their interaction with other stocks caught in the same mixed fishery.

Members: Correspondence

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of (a) 31 March, (b) 29 April, (c) 9 June and (d) 23 June from the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay, reference JB37073.

Victoria Prentis: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 19 July. I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Pay

Abena Oppong-Asare: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Living Wage Foundation's real wage calculator, if he will make estimate of how many (a) direct employees, (b) contractors and (c) agency workers who work in his Department and relevant agencies and public bodies receive a wage below that of either (i) the UK Real Living Wage outside of Greater London or (ii) the London Living Wage inside of Greater London.

Victoria Prentis: As of 6 July 2022, taking into account pay review process which will be effective from 1 July, it is expected there will be no direct employees (excluding students and apprentices) on rates lower than the Living Wage Foundation published rates. Wage information relating to contractors is not held. The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 are complied with by all organisations, which ensure parity of pay for agency workers with rates paid to employees

Fisheries: Nature Conservation

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of his policies on the protection of deep sea species from overexploitation.

Victoria Prentis: Each year, the UK publishes the sustainability outcomes of the annual fisheries negotiations. This sets out the number of Total Allowable Catches (TACs) that have been set in line with the International Council for the Exploration Sea (ICES) advice. The UK is committed to promoting the sustainability for all fisheries stocks including deep sea species.

Food Supply: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to produce local food producers in Northern Ireland.

Victoria Prentis: We want to see a sustainable food system, from farm to fork and catch to plate, seizing on the opportunities before us; levelling-up every part of the country and ensuring that everyone has access to nutritious and healthier food. A key part of that is supporting local food produce. Responsibilities in food policy are devolved. However, engagement takes place with officials in Devolved Administrations to draw attention to the needs of local food producers.

Saltwater Fish: Conservation

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in light of its assessment as critically endangered by the IUCN, if the Government will work towards a zero Total Allowable Catch for roundnose grenadier (a) in UK-EU negotiations and (b) at the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission.

Victoria Prentis: The UK relies on advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) when negotiating sustainable total allowable catches for fish stocks, including for roundnose grenadier. We are committed to restoring stocks to healthy states including taking a precautionary approach where necessary. To reflect this, the UK unilaterally applies a bycatch provision and does not actively target this stock. The UK will continue to make use of the best available science in developing our approach for deep sea stocks in both the UK and EU consultations, and our representations at the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission.

Saltwater Fish: Conservation

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in light of recent scientific advice published by ICES, whether the Government will (a) support a position of zero catch of blackspot seabream, (b) introduce additional unilateral measures for their conservation in UK waters and (c) introduce closures to protect spawning sites.

Victoria Prentis: Blackspot seabream (western red seabream) is recognised as seriously depleted by the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES). The recent catch advice issued by ICES, for zero catches of blackspot seabream, will form a central part of the UK position for this stock for the forthcoming consultations. This approach is consistent with the UK’s commitments to make the best use of scientific advice for the management of fishing activities. Blackspot seabream is a shared stock with the EU. The UK and EU are developing improved management measures to support its long-term recovery through the Specialised Committee on Fisheries.

Fish: Conservation

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which species the UK considers to be forage fish; and whether the Government will adopt a more precautionary approach to the management of the species based on their wider ecological importance.

Victoria Prentis: Forage fish are important to the ecosystem as they provide food for predator fish and sea birds. We are reviewing our policy on forage fish that are caught for industrial purposes. In the context of the Northeast Atlantic, there are specific fleet segments that specialise in this type of fishing, and their effort within UK waters is targeted on particular species, principally sandeel and Norway pout.

Olive Oil: UK Trade with EU

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has taken steps to assess the impact on supply chains of additional agri-good paperwork for the importation of olive oil from the EU for independent retailers.

Victoria Prentis: Defra routinely engages with stakeholders on a wide range of food issues including olive oil, but has not undertaken any formal assessment on this point.

Animals and Plants: Disease Control

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve the UK's biosecurity.

Victoria Prentis: Biosecurity remains a top priority for the Government, not only to protect consumers, but also to ensure that trading partners and industry have strong assurance of the UK's standards of food safety, animal and plant health. On 16 February 2022, the Government also announced the allocation of £200 million for a programme of investment into world-leading research facilities to boost the UK’s fight against zoonotic diseases, including avian flu and bovine tuberculosis. The money will be spent on a state-of-the-art revamp of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) scientific laboratories at Weybridge – enhancing the UK’s already world-leading scientific and veterinary capability. We have established mechanisms in place to stop products from being exported to Great Britain from known areas with a significant pest or disease. We also constantly review whether further safeguards are needed and have a scientific process to assess and respond to changing biosecurity threats.

Saltwater Fish: Conservation

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government has plans to replace combined turbot and brill and witch and lemon sole total allowable catches (TACs) with single species TACs in the context of recent scientific advice published by ICES that multi-species TACs prevent effective management.

Victoria Prentis: We have asked ICES to update its advice from 2018 on the effectiveness of management arrangements for these stocks which are managed by joint TACs. ICES have indicated their advice will be available during the autumn and we expect to make it our policy for the annual fisheries negotiation with the EU to manage these stocks based on the updated advice provided by ICES. This request to ICES is an example of the work we are doing through the Specialised Committee for Fisheries to address challenges where we think new or different advice is needed.

Food Supply: Weather

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the impact that the July 2022 heatwave will have on the UK's food supply.

Victoria Prentis: The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response. Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources; strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. We produce 60% of all the food we need, and 74% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year. Through international trade, UK consumers have access to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply. This year, early season grass growth has generally been sufficient for good cutting and grazing, with some regional variation. Whilst growth in some areas is now being impacted by the hot dry conditions, this is not unusual at this point in the summer and livestock farmers have a range of options available to them when grass growth declines. Some farmers will need to supplement livestock diets with additional conserved forage or cereals based feeds, but good early silage cuts and the current strong prices for the dairy, beef and sheep sectors should help support this. Promising forage maize crops across the majority of the UK should further bolster winter forage stocks when the maize harvest commences in the coming months. The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s first harvest report of the 2022/23 season reports that the dry weather has enabled farmers to make a good start on the winter barley and oilseed rape harvest, particularly in southern and eastern regions of England, and where possible on winter wheat. To overcome the high temperatures, farmers have been working late at night and early in the morning and grain cooling has been required. It is still too early to understand whether the hot weather has impacted yields or crop conditions. Defra has well established ways of working with the industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains. We continue to keep the weather situation and any subsequent impact on grass growth and the arable harvest under close review, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which Defra and the Devolved Administrations set up to monitor the UK market situation across all key agricultural commodities. We have also increased engagement with the industry to supplement Government analysis with real-time intelligence. This provides the Government with the best possible intelligence on how the sector is performing.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has spent on consultancy fees in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022; and what the name is of each consultancy contracted.

Victoria Prentis: The provisional consultancy spend for 2021-22 is £26.970m for the Core Department and Agencies. The department’s spend on consultancy is published each year in the Annual Report and Accounts. 2020-21https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-to-2021 (page 100) 2019-20https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2019-to-2020 (page 87)  The names of consultancies contracted are listed below A LUCK ASSOCIATESActica Consulting LtdAether LtdALCHEMMY CONSULTING LTDAlexander Mann Solutions LTDAmber Employment Services LtdAmec Foster WheelerARCADIS CONSULTING UK LTDArpexas (Scotland) LtdBankserveBeamans LtdBiopharma Consulting (BPC)BLUE BORDER LTDBroadhead Global LtdBusiness Solutions LimitedCapitaChange Associates LtdCommercial Consultancy LtdCostain LtdCURRIE and BROWN UK LTDDaisy Communications LimitedDeloitte LLPDirac Delta Solutions LtdDr Gabriele HesselbeinDr Marion SimmonsDr Vanessa CarnDTA ECOLOGY LTDEBC CONSULTING LTDENGINEERING SAFETY CONSULTANTS LTDEric CrutcherErnst & Young LLP (EY)FINYX CONSULTING LTDFIRST RESPONSE TRAINING and CONSULTANCY SERVICES LTDFrontier Economics LtdG2 Recruitment SolutionsGovernment Legal DepartmentHealth Management LtdIngentium LtdIVDEOLOGY LTDJ WeeksJACOBS UK LTDJohn PointsJones P Consulting LtdJSA Services Ltd t/a WorkwellJulie GibsonKeep IT SimpleKLIFOVET AGKPMGKPMG Safi Al Mutawa & PartnersL T S INTERNATIONAL LTDLearning LightLocal Partnerships LLPLockhart-GarrattLouisa WoodLSSC LtdM BotonyManagement and Risk Solutions LtdMCKINSEY & CO INC UNITED KINGDOMMet OfficeMethods Business Digital TechnologyMETHODS CONSULTING LTDMo Gannon & Associates LtdModality Systems LtdMorgan LangleyNetwork RailNibiru LtdPA CONSULTING SERVICES LTDPark Health & Safety Partnership LLPPerfect Circle JV LtdPhilippe Sabot Consultant (PSC)PJM-HS CONSULTING LTDPKM Digital LtdPRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLPProximaPUBLIC DIGITAL LTDRADMAN ASSOCIATES LTDRare Little Beastie LtdRBSREEDREQUIRED EXPERIENCE LTDRichard ParkerROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE.RSK GROUP PLCSeed ScienceSGS UK LtdSilversands LtdStentiford, GrantTHE BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP UK LLPThe Neoteric Tech Company LtdThe Research Box LtdTriple G Consulting LtdUniversity Of LiverpoolVETERINARY VACCINES CONS LTDWhiteball LtdWILLS TOWERS WATSON LTDWRAPWSP GLOBAL

Meat: UK Trade with EU

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of altering the existing Export Health Certificate requirements so that monthly compliance attestations from EU suppliers can be accepted as part of the sign-off requirements for those certificates for imported meat goods from the EU into Great Britain.

Victoria Prentis: Health certification is a biosecurity measure related to the consignment subject to export. The certification conditions relate to physical parameters for a specific consignment such as vaccination, health tests status, time of slaughter, production details and disease status at time of production. The certifying Official Veterinarian signs the certificate to confirm the status of the consignment. The act of signing their name on documents should be approached with care and accuracy. An Official Veterinarian would not be able to put their name to a consignment, for example, at the start of the month covering products that might be produced and shipped later that month as they would not have the necessary data to support their signature and professional responsibility. We are keeping our GB import certification requirements under review to minimise the burden on trade while maintaining our high biosecurity standards.

Agriculture: Costs

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with representatives of the agricultural industry on the impact of the rising cost of (a) fuel, (b) grains and (c) fertiliser on that sector.

Victoria Prentis: The UK's food supply is highly resilient. Defra has well established ways of working with the industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains.Agricultural commodity prices are closely linked to global gas prices. Farmers are facing increased input costs including for fertiliser, feed and fuel. We are working closely with the industry to identify where further mitigations are available to tackle the challenges they face.The Secretary of State recently announced a range of measures in support of the current situation, such as delaying changes to the use of urea fertiliser to help farmers manage their costs and improving statutory guidance for use of slurry. There have been three meetings of the Fertiliser Taskforce (the latest of which was on 21 July) with key industry bodies to discuss potential mitigations to the challenges which global supply pressures are causing. Ministers will continue to meet with key industry bodies for further Fertiliser Taskforce sessions in the coming months, to help identify and mitigate potential risks.In addition, the 2022 Basic Payment Scheme payment will be made in two instalments to give farmers an advance injection of cash. Farmers with eligible applications will receive half of their payment from the end of July, and the rest from December. By doing this, the Government intends to inject cash into farm businesses, helping them to make business decisions sooner, with more confidence.We continue to keep the market situation under review through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade and recent developments.

Agriculture and Food Supply: Climate Change

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to (a) take steps to mitigate the impact of climate change on (i) agriculture and (ii) global food security and (b) revitalise the international trade of food in the context of the effect on global food production of (A) the international response to covid-19 and (B) global warming.

Victoria Prentis: The Government is committed to take action to mitigate climate change and to adapt to its impact. We are introducing three schemes that reward environmental benefits: the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery. Together, these schemes are intended to provide a powerful vehicle for achieving the goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan and our commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, while supporting our rural economy. Through them, farmers and other land managers may enter into agreements to be paid for delivering public goods including adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. The Government has also published the Net Zero Strategy which sets the UK on a clear path to net zero by 2050 and set out key commitments such as ensuring 75% of farmers in England will be engaged in low carbon practices by 2030, rising to 85% by 2035. More recently in the Food Strategy we have set out the funding available for innovation in farming and agriculture. The UK announced an Agriculture Breakthrough goal at COP26 - "to make climate-resilient, sustainable agriculture the most attractive and widely adopted option for farmers everywhere by 2030" - and the intention to build country support for this in 2022. This is part of the Breakthrough Agenda which was launched at the COP26 World Leaders Summit. The Breakthrough Agenda is a commitment from countries to work together internationally this decade to accelerate the development and deployment of the clean technologies needed to meet our Paris climate goals, ensuring they are affordable and accessible for all. The UK provides funding to the CGIAR, the world's leading agricultural science and innovation organisation, which delivers cutting edge technology and evidence-based solutions to tackle global challenges in the food system, saving and improving millions of lives. CGIAR research is projected to deliver a reduction of 0.6 gigatonnes CO2e each year by 2030. CGIAR rice innovations alone have scope to reduce global emissions by 0.5% - equivalent to 40% of total UK emissions. The Government has also announced specific measures to support farmers with rising input costs including changes to statutory guidance to the "Farming Rules for Water"; increased grants funding to boost R&D; and bringing the Basic Payment Scheme forward so that 50% of its payments are made this summer to improve cash flow for farmers. The Food Standards Agency has provided guidance to Trading Standards Officers and businesses setting out how flexibility in enforcement of labelling rules may be applied to alleviate supply challenges and maintain supply of foods into retail. Feedback has been that industry welcomes these actions, and the main ask going forward is for us to carefully review the supply situation before reverting to a 'full compliance' model of enforcement. Defra is taking a number of actions to maintain food security and reduce pressures on prices. The Government launched a package of measures to reduce the impact of cost of living concerns, including: nine new GMO authorisations to provide alternative sources for maize, removing tariffs on US maize, bringing forward BPS payments for farmers and delaying measures that would have imposed costs on businesses. Furthermore, G7 Leaders have pledged to provide increased humanitarian assistance with priority recipients should include countries facing acute food insecurity (for example Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen), and countries facing potential food riots (such as Egypt). The UK’s ambitious Free Trade Agreement programme diversifies sources of supply, contributes to our food security and resilience and supplements our strong domestic production.